Inside the BRD: Former Grafton High baseball star Robbie Hiser signs to play for Norfolk State University

Robbie Hiser, an all-state selection who helped Grafton High reach the 2012 AA state tournament semifinals, signed recently to play collegiate baseball at Norfolk State University. Hiser, who played the past two years at Lenoir Community College in North Carolina, said the scholarship will pay for most of his expenses.

“I think Norfolk State is an up-and-coming program,” Hiser said. “They won 23 games last season and went 14-10 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

“I’d like to come in and help them break Bethune-Cookman’s string of (seven of the past eight) MEAC championships.”

The role he’ll likely play for the Spartans, as closer, would be key to that objective. Hiser, a 5-foot-10, 205-pound rising junior, had a good sophomore season at Lenior, going 2-0 with a 1.65 earned run average in 10 appearances, including 41 strikeouts in 27 innings.

His fastball has been clocked at 92 mph and, during two years in junior college, he has improved on the slider he occasionally mixed in at Grafton. NSU coach Claudell Clark indicated that Hiser will help round off a pitching staff heavy on experience.

“Robbie Hiser is a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher with the versatility to be an effective starter or reliever,” Clark said.

Hiser added, “They want me to grab the closer spot and compete for a spot at third base.”

During his time at Lenoir, Hiser earned national junior college gold glove recognition for his defensive play at third base. He hit .264 as a sophomore with six home runs and 22 RBI.

That came on the heels of a high school career in which he starred at quarterback and linebacker for the Grafton football team, while helping the Clippers twice reach the AA state tournament in baseball. As a senior, he batted .393 with five home runs and 27 RBI for the Grafton team that swept Bay Rivers and Region I tournament titles en route to the state semis.

“Robbie was always the type of guy who wanted the ball in late-game situations, so I think he can excel in the one or two inning situations as a reliever for (Norfolk State),” Grafton coach Matt Lewellen said. “I know he’s excited to be playing Division I baseball and I’m excited for him.”

Hiser is one of five players off of Grafton’s 2012 team, which went 25-3, who are playing in D-I or are committed to do so. Kyrie Washington, C.J. Roth and Blake Ream are all rising juniors at Longwood University, while Evan Sperling, a rising senior at Grafton who played on the 2012 team as a freshman, has committed to pitch at the University of Virginia.

Hiser said that the talent he played with or against during his high school days prepared him to succeed on the collegiate level. He played on club teams with Jake Cave, Austin Crisman and Terrell Joyce, while batting in the Bay Rivers District against a host of tough pitchers who moved onto Division I: Poquoson’s Kyle Crockett (now with the Cleveland Indians) and Chad Pinder, and Tabb’s Patrick Corbett and Jared Lyons among them.

“What I learned is that you don’t back down,” he said. “No matter how good a pitcher is you try to hit them.

“It also struck me batting against them is that as a pitcher you’ve got to attack hitters. Period.”